iJourneys

John Gough Photography

Lightroom Presets Using ChatGPT

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Lightroom Presets

Lightroom presets are the key to consistent editing and speeding your workflow when post processing your image RAW files. However, presets take time to set up, especially if you want to try different looks or emulate your favourite photographers. So how can you save a ton of time?

Why not use the power of AI and ChatGPT to assist you in designing Lightroom presets for your photography?

Get Some Ideas from ChatGPT about Lightroom Presets

It may be dreamy landscapes or the stark monochrome of David Bailey: a vintage film vibe, or a cinematic recreation.

Start by asking ChatGPT for some ideas, or if you know what you want use ChatGPT to suggest where to start.

For example:
Prompt: “I want to create a Lightroom preset inspired by the vibrant tones of summer evenings. Can you suggest adjustments to colour, tone, and effects?”
ChatGPT’s Response:

  • Increase Vibrance and Saturation by 20-30% for rich colors.
  • Adjust Highlights down (-20) to retain detail in bright areas.
  • Boost Shadows (+15) for a balanced look.
  • Add a warm Temperature shift (+5 to 10) for a golden glow.
  • Slightly increase the Texture and Clarity (+5 each) to enhance details.

Try Out Different Themes or Styles in Lightroom Presets

ChatGPT can also help you create presets based on specific styles, such as “cinematic,” “moody black and white,” or “retro Polaroid.”

Prompt: “Can you suggest settings for a moody black-and-white preset?”
ChatGPT’s Response:

  • Convert to Black & White.
  • Reduce Highlights (-25) for a soft, dramatic feel.
  • Increase Whites (+10) to add contrast.
  • Decrease Shadows (-15) and Blacks (-20) for depth.
  • Add a subtle Vignette (-10 to -15).
  • Adjust the Tone Curve for an S-shaped contrast boost.

Get a Detailed Lightroom Preset Description

If you ask ChatGPT for detail, it will offer a specific Lightroom preset description. Here is one I requested to recreate the style of the UK social documentary photographer, Martin Parr.

Basic Settings

  • Exposure: Adjust to match the scene, keeping it slightly bright (+0.10 to +0.20).
  • Contrast: +25
  • Highlights: -10 (to retain detail in bright areas like skies).
  • Shadows: +20 (to lift dark areas while preserving some depth).
  • Whites: +10
  • Blacks: -15 (to create deep, rich blacks).

Tone Curve

  • Highlights: Lift slightly to brighten light tones.
  • Lights: Increase for midtone contrast.
  • Darks: Decrease to deepen shadows.
  • Shadows: Lift slightly for a soft matte effect.

Final Curve: A subtle S-curve for contrast, with a slight lift at the shadows.

HSL Panel

Hue

  • Reds: -10 (for warm, natural skin tones).
  • Oranges: -5 (minor tweak for richer tones).
  • Yellows: -5 (to lean toward golden highlights).
  • Greens: +10 (to make grass and foliage more vibrant).
  • Blues: -5 (for deeper skies).

Saturation

  • Reds: +20
  • Oranges: +15
  • Yellows: +20 (for punchy highlights).
  • Greens: +25 (for vivid foliage).
  • Blues: +15 (for rich skies).
  • Purples/Magentas: +10 (subtle but balances overall tones).

Luminance

  • Reds: +10
  • Oranges: +5
  • Yellows: +10
  • Greens: +15
  • Blues: -5 (to give skies a bit more depth).

Color Grading

Shadows:

  • Hue: 230 (blue tones)
  • Saturation: 10 (just a hint for depth).

Midtones:

  • Hue: 60 (yellow-green tones)
  • Saturation: 15 (to warm midtones).

Highlights:

  • Hue: 50 (gold tones)
  • Saturation: 20 (for a sunny, nostalgic glow).

Blending: 60

Balance: +10 (favour highlights).

Detail Panel

  • Sharpening: Amount: 60, Radius: 1.0, Detail: 30, Masking: 10.
  • Noise Reduction: 10 (retain texture but clean up any noise).

Lens Corrections

  • Enable Profile Corrections.
  • Remove Chromatic Aberration.

Effects

  • Dehaze: +5 (adds subtle depth).
  • Vignette: 0 (avoid heavy vignettes; Parr’s style is clean).

Lightroom Presets as an xmp File

ChatGPT can also create an XMP file, which you can upload directly to Lightroom. If you don’t know how to upload the file, just ask ChatGPT.

Conclusion

AI is changing photography, as it is in all fields of endeavour, and we photographers are just getting to grips with its potential. Like it or not in five years it will be part of our lives. The trick will be to work with it, not for it.

Using AI we can work smarter and speed up our workflow. Lightroom can only help develop our creativity, and eventually, the sliders in Lightroom will be a thing of the past.

Experience Saul Leiter

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A note about a couple of opportunities to experience Saul Leiter:

‘In No Great Hurry’ A Documentary

I do like photographs when sometimes everything is lost and where in some corner something is going on you are not quite sure.

Saul Leiter

I have finally found where you can stream ‘In No Great Hurry,’ a documentary in which Leiter talks to Tomas Leach at his studio on the Lower East Side. It can be found at The Darkroom Rumour, and the film can be watched with an annual subscription or a 7-day free trial here. This documentary was shot in 2012, and covers not only his fabulous colour photography but also his life lessons, what he likes about photography and the effect he wishes to have on those who see his photographs

Saul Leiter ‘An Unfinished World’

Photographs are often treated as important moments, but really they are fragments and souvenirs of an unfinished world.”

Saul Leiter

A major retrospective exhibition of his work. ‘An Unfinished World’ is at Foam, Amsterdam in the New Year: 24th Jan to 23rd April. To quote the blurb. ‘this exhibition brings together over 200 works, consisting of black-and-white and colour photography and his abstract paintings. His unique style reveals a practice using shadow, light, and reflections to craft layered compositions.

The 50mm Lens for Street Photography

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Train Times / John Gough

I have recently returned to using prime lenses for street photography. Bulky telephoto lenses are just too cumbersome. I want something as inconspicuous as possible.

Trudging through YouTube street photography videos, one of the most ferocious debates is around lens selection. The 35mm lens is a favourite, it is the Goldilocks lens. Not too wide, and not too narrow. However, I have decided to go for a 50mm lens and want to tell you why. I have a Canon R6, so I have chosen the the Canon RF50mm. It is cheap, light and compact.

Why the 50mm Focal Length?

The 50mm focal length is often regarded as the most “natural” field of view. Photographers call it the ‘nifty fifty’. Unlike wide-angle or telephoto lenses, the 50mm closely mimics how the human eye sees the world. It provides an authentic perspective which neither distorts the scene nor pulls the viewer too far away. This is particularly useful in street photography, where capturing the moment exactly as it is, can make all the difference.

Compact and Discreet

One of the key challenges in street photography is the need to be inconspicuous. You don’t want to draw attention to yourself or your gear; otherwise, you risk losing the candid nature of the scene. The 50mm lens, especially in its prime form is small, lightweight, and unobtrusive. It doesn’t scream “professional photographer”, but allows you to unobtrusively slip into the background.

The Balance Between Distance and Intimacy

A 50mm lens offers an excellent balance between distance and intimacy. While a wide angle lens forces you so close to your subject that it may feel intrusive, telephoto lenses keep you too far in the distance. The 50mm lens lets you stay engaged with your subject while maintaining a respectful distance.

Aperture Flexibility

Many 50mm lenses, especially those with f/1.8 or f/1.4 apertures, excel in low-light situations. Whether you’re shooting in the golden hour, at dusk, or indoors, the wide aperture lets in plenty of light. This is especially important in street photography, where you have to capture the action at 1/400 sec or above, without any control over lighting conditions.

Restricted apertures also create a shallow depth of field which can separate the subject from the background. In bustling urban environments, this can be incredibly useful.

Encourages Composition and Creativity

Because the 50mm lens lacks the ultra-wide field of view or the zoom capabilities of telephoto lenses, it encourages you to think more about composition. You can’t rely on zooming in or out to adjust your frame, so you must move to find the best angle.

Limitations of the 50mm Lens in Street Photography

While the 50mm lens has many strengths, it does have its limitations. Its field of view is narrower than a wide-angle lens, meaning you might miss some context in busy urban scenes.

Additionally, because you’re not zooming in, you need to be comfortable and confident about getting closer to your subjects.

My View

YouTube street photography influencers would have you believe that the only camera for street is a compact camera, ideally a Leica. I don’t want to afford a Leica, just because they are ‘de rigour’. I also do not want a Fujifilm X100Vl, the influential street photographer’s second choice, (mainly because it is cheaper than a Leica). It is too small to handle, and the 35mm equivalent lens is stuck firmly to the body.

I prefer to use the camera I use every day for landscape, portrait and everything in between. So a 50mm prime lens on my Canon mirrorless camera seems just right, and I can switch to a 35mm or 28mm lens if I need to. The 50mm lens is versatile, discreet and great value, but it is also all great fun.

Another Saul Leiter Project

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Tony Bramley FRPS has also been on a Saul Leiter journey. This brief video shows some of his ‘Leiter’ images compared with the Leiter original.

I love the Saul Leiter quote that Tony has found:

A window covered with raindrops interests me more than a photograph of a famous person

Saul Leiter

An Update on My Saul Leiter Journey

I am enjoying studying one photographer in depth. We can all appreciate Leiter’s work, the layers. the seasons, the blur, the abstract composition etc. However. reproducing the Leiter colour palette has been a trial. I know it is early Kodachrome but getting that look has been impossible. Then I think that I am recreating the Saul Leiter style, rather than copying directly, the look of his images. It is the feel I am after, and then incorporating that quality into my own street style.

It is an amazing thing but researching Saul Leiter has made me fall in love with street photography all over again. Especially, the excitement of getting out there not knowing what you will photograph.

Street photography will never win you any prizes, the very randomness of taking pictures in the instant means that judges will inevitably fail it. There is bound to be something that does not meet their photographic algorithm. However remember, when you are out there alone on the street with your camera, you are living your best photography

Why I Love Leiter

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Some years ago I went to a Rothko exhibition at Tate Modern, I sat in front of one of his paintings, which one I don’t know, but it was like many of his works made up of abstract rectangles of colour. I sat there, and tears appeared in my eyes. It was an emotional response to this amazing art. Why? There is no reason except that I suppose there had to be some connection at an unconscious level.  

It happened again recently at a Saul Leiter exhibition in Milton Keynes. (On until the 2cd June 2024 at the Milton Keynes Gallery). I cried again. It may be me. Perhaps I am oversensitive but imagine the power of a photograph that can bring tears to your eyes.

Leiter’s work is sublime, it lifts street photography into an art form, it captures fragments of life. We know they are fleeting moments because people are captured by Leiter through condensation soaked shop windows, from the restrictions of a car window, between railings or buildings, or in reflections in shop windows. They are glimpses of time.

The colours are beautifully muted using early Kodachrome film, which adds to the ethereal feel. They are more often portrait than landscape. Again, this gives the images a look of being caught between one event and another. People are seen in private moments. They are captured doing nothing in particular, just the ordinary actions of everyday life, walking, talking standing and sitting.

Coming back to Rothko, Leiter’s work has elements of abstraction. Pictures within pictures, distortions from rain soaked windows, figures out of focus, blurred foreground, a tantalising view, seen through a crack in an advertising hoarding. Every day life in New York captured by a shard of light in the lens of his camera. The beauty of the ordinary created by a genius.

(I have collated some of Leiter’s work here. Also, Rothko for reference. There are numerous films on YouTube including the one above, and lovely books on Amazon where you can luxuriate in his photography.)

The Royal Mothers Day Photograph

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It is just occasionally that you realise that you know more than everyone around you. It is a heady experience and it happened to me with the publication of the Princess of Wales, Mothers Day photograph.

Suspicious Activity

 As these pages show I do know a bit more than average about Photoshop (PS), I use it every day. So, when saw the picture I was immediately suspicious. To me, Catherine’s face was a softer focus than that of her children, and her right hand was definitely out of focus, but the child’s jumper was in focus.

Then it happened the picture agencies put a kill notice on the photograph because it had clearly been doctored in PS. Others came out and pointed out all the inconsistencies. The red sleeve, no wedding ring, and visible joins where images had been merged. Gaps in the background where the windows did not quite come together.

The Press Agencies Withdraw the Royal Photo

The agencies were right to withdraw the royal photo because this was an untruthful press / PR picture. If a press photographer is ever found to have changed an allegedly ‘news’ photograph, they could lose their livelihood. Reputation is built on providing genuine photographs of what is in front of you, not a confection of images joined together as in this instance.

Palace Statement

However, for me, the biggest mistake was the Palace PR machine compounding one inconsistency with another. We know now that Prince William could not have taken the royal photo, we know now that the photograph was made up. The Palace then released a statement from the ‘Princess of Wales’:

“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing, I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day.”

The message was signed off “C,” indicating it came directly from Catherine.

Implications

Although the princess does not actually fess up, the clear implication is that she did it. How can this be true? As I said, it is just occasionally that you realise that you know more than everyone around you. I know PS and I understand the general level of expertise of most amateur photographers. I am an amateur photographer myself and through these channels, I communicate with others all the time Although this photograph is a botched job, it does not look like the work of an amateur.

You need professional PS skills to attempt this type of composite and ironically it would take considerable expertise just to create what is there.

This photograph and the following statement create more questions than answers. Do the Palace take us all for fools or is there something far more sinister going on that requires one piece of misinformation to be followed by another and then yet another?

Jessica Meyer

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People on the move in Aix-en-Provence 🇫🇷 / Jessica Meyer (Permission sought)

I am enjoying the work of Jessica Meyer. Especially the blending of old and new in the image above. It is a hand printed Cyanotype, partially bleached with Borax substitute.

This was created for a project in @icmphotomag challenging the creative ways in which we can combine both the fast digital world of ICM photography with the slow manual printing process of #cyanotypes, invented 180 years ago.

You can find her work here and on Instagram

Exploring the Artistry of Wolfgang Tillmans

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Wolfgang Tillmans

I was looking through the medals and acceptances awarded at this year’s London Salon. The majority of awarded images were brilliantly creative. It is clear that to win photography distinctions today it is not enough to point your camera at a fabulous sunset, anyone with a smartphone can do that. To make waves now requires real creative input from the photographer.

Making waves brings me to the world of Wolfgang Tillmans, a photographer who is renowned for his innovative approach and his ability to creatively capture the essence of life. Tillmans’s work crosses conventional boundaries, blurring the lines between photography, abstraction, and conceptual art. I love his later work and I have curated some of his abstract images here. There are also videos about Tillmans here

Abstract and Conceptual Explorations

Tillmans’ career started with traditional photography, but later he started to explore abstraction and conceptual art. He experimented with the photographic process itself, manipulating light, colour, and exposure to create mesmerizing abstract compositions. These works often evoke emotions, making viewers revaluate their own interpretation of the images.

Recognition and Influence

Wolfgang Tillmans is the only photographer to have won the prestigious Turner Prize which he achieved in 2000. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide, solidifying his place as one of the most influential artists of our time.

Wolfgang Tillmans Exhibitions

Tillmans curates his photographs in unique and thought-provoking ways. These often immersive installations allow visitors to experience his art interactively, blurring the line between the observer and the observed. He rejects the conventions of photographic presentation, developing connections between his pictures and the social space of the exhibition. Unframed prints are taped to the walls or clipped and pinned. Framed photographs appear alongside magazine pages. Images are grouped on walls and tabletops as photocopies, colour or black-and-white photographs, and video projections.

“I see my installations as a reflection of the way I see, the way I perceive or want to perceive my environment,” Tillmans has said. “They’re also always a world that I want to live in.”

“The viewer…should enter my work through their own eyes, and their own lives”

Wolfgang Tillmans

His exhibition To Look without Fear, is at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 9 November 2023 – 3 March 2024 

Roxanne Bouche Overton : Liminal Time

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Roxanne Bouche Overton

This year has to be about abstract photography and photo expressionism. The world is becoming too damaged to just capture images with clean lines and clear perspectives. I want to become engulfed in a liminal universe and draw inspiration from other visual artists working in the same space. One such photographer I admire is Roxanne Bouche Overton.

Photographing Liminal Space

Roxanne Bouche Overton is intrigued by the photography of liminal space and time.

A liminal space is a place between two other places or two states of being. Liminal spaces are often empty and can create unease or uncertainty.

Liminal photography can be used to capture the feeling of being in a dream or the feeling of being lost. It can also be used to capture the feeling of being in a place that is both familiar and unfamiliar.

All of my life I’ve been chasing what I see out of the corner of my eye; those elusive visions, slightly blurred and a bit magical. But when I turn and focus on them, they disappear into ordinary. I wanted to learn how to capture that state of blur. It’s what caught my eye in the first place – I think it’s worth chasing.

When I am out shooting I am looking for those liminal spaces – the transitions between then and now – the transitions of between the blur of my peripheral vision as it moves to sharpness. We must be aware if we to engage our imaginations and collect these moments

Roxanne Bouche Overton

ICM

Roxanne is a master of Intentional Camera Movement (ICM). Just to recap intentional camera movement (ICM) photography is a technique where you move the camera as the image is taken. This can be done by panning, tilting, or shaking the camera. The goal is to create an image with a sense of movement and blur.

Rozanne,s work however takes ICM to a different level, forget blurry ICM shots of tree trunks. Roxanne works with landscape and urban spaces, often including lone figures in vibrant surroundings.

Roxanne’s Photography

Learning from great photographers is one of the joys of photography. Why, when you see some images are you inspired enough to find out how and why the photographer captured that moment?

Especially when that moment is not representational, but more abstract and more about the emotion than the seeing. This is what has drawn me to the work of Roxanne Bouche Overton. Her photography has an eerie quality. Her ICM images are not what you have seen before, but what you might have seen, what you cannot quite remember seeing, what you thought you saw, or what you felt you saw but didn’t.

It is extraordinary how Roxanne’s work demonstrates how a camera can capture the elusive.

Roxanne Bouche Overton

A Curation of Roxanne’s Work

I have curated some of her work here and there is so much more on her Instagram account.

Her website gives details of publications and workshops.

Her books are available on Amazon:

I have also found this clip which is interesting in giving an insight into her work and how she achieves her results

Abstract Photography

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Photography is driving me to abstraction. That is why I have included the video above. Because Valda Bailey can describe far more articulately than I can, why some photographers are trending towards expressionism and abstract photography, rather than sticking with the more usual genres of landscape, street and portraiture.

For that reason, I wanted to understand more about abstract photography. I knew that it appealed to me, so I recently attended an exhibition, celebrating photographic expressionism. Coincidently organised by Valda Bailey and her colleague Doug Chinnery who together are baileychinnery.com

Some Abstract Photographers

Some of the best abstract photographers working in the UK were represented at the exhibition. If you view some of their work then you will get an idea of how some photographers are moving from reality to the abstract.

Ivana Lazdina

Iveta Lazdina is a fine art photographer from Latvia, who works with ICM, and multiple exposure to produce abstract photographic art.

Alison Buchanan

Using ICM and multiple exposure to ‘simplify the image and using a limited colour palette to convey feelings of calm and serenity’

Jan Beesley

‘I use photography as the medium to express myself creatively and I enjoy the playfulness of using camera techniques such as multiple exposure and intentional camera movement to capture my impressions’.

Jocelyn Horsfall

Jocelyn Horsfall specialises in ‘atmospheric images inspired by flowers and foliage and the natural world’

Howard Rankin

‘For my abstract work my inspiration comes from my friends Valda Bailey and Doug Chinnery, working with multiple exposures and ICM . It can particularly gratifying to apply some of those techniques to the more conventional genres of Landscape, Music and Wildlife.’

Laura Goin

Laura Goin uses ICM and multiple exposure to capture the countryside that reminds her of home in Missouri.

Annemarie Hoogwoud

‘For me, the landscape is a means of expressing how I look and feel about what touches me. The way a painter uses brushes and paint. I paint the landscape with my camera to create my images’.

Why the Trend to Photograph the Abstract?

There is a trend towards abstract photography, but compared to other genres it is still minuscule. On Instagram the number of abstract posts is 3.2 million, compared to landscape photography 68.3m, wildlife photography 27.2m and a whopping 114.5m for street photography. So we need to get this trend into perspective. It is a road less well travelled.

That however is part of its appeal. When I was into landscape I was always turning up at sites to put my tripod into the holes left by others. The likelihood is that they were up earlier than I was, had better light or better kit etc, all of which made their images far better than mine. When I was into street photography there were photographers with New York or London on their doorstep. My opportunities in rural Bedfordshire were far more limited.

Do We Need Another Selfy?

In 2023, 54,400 photos are taken every second, 196 million per hour, 4.7 billion per day, 32.9 billion per week, 143 billion per month, and 1.72 trillion per year. With too many photographs in the world is it surprising that some photographers are moving away from representational photography?

Abstract photography is moving beyond a literal interpretation, it is art and photography combined. There are no longer boundaries, creativity becomes more important than technique and technology. Photography is all about seeing. About making versions of what we have seen before

Expressionist photography is more about seeing what isn’t there.